For the convenience of the current Shadowrun players, here’s a quick list of some of the major corporations operating in and around Seattle in 2054. As a rule, subcorporations are not listed. Naturally enough, most of the larger corporations are standard for the setting, quite a few of the small ones are unique to this campaign.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s Supermegaconglomacorp!

OK: These are the big ones. The megacorporations with enough subsidiaries, power, influence, and money to rival medium-sized countries in 2054. Notably, they generally DON’T have military power on that scale – and are mostly too spread out to defend themselves effectively if they did piss off any sizable group of nations. Still, they certainly have enough armed guards to harass a few shadowrunners. All of them have interests all over the place, but a major fields of interest are noted with each corporation.

Ares. Based; North America. Watchword; Reliability. Major Interests; Military and Security, Heavy Industry, Air/Ground/Space Vehicles, General Manufacturing, and Space. Ares has a fairly good rep, and is pretty reliable about rewarding people who do a good job for them and trying to punish those who gratuitously screw things up. It distrusts hotshots.

Fuchi. Based; Japan. Watchword; Infighting. Major Interests; Satellites, Computers, Cybrenetics, Programming, Advanced Electronics, Launch and Industrial Systems and Consumer Goods. Fuchi has a reputation for chaos; lacking unified directions from the top, every local manager gets to do things his or her own way. If you’re getting involved with Fuchi, check them out first.

Mitsuhama Computer Technologies. Based; Japan. Watchword: Underhanded. Major Interests; Computers, Chemicals, Entertainment, Magic, Industrial Production, and Privilege. MCT has a reputation for heavy-handedness and ruthlessness in management, in security, and in retaliation. It’s also a bastion of tradition, including traditions about the privileges of the nobility. When MCT kills you and your family and steals your stuff, it’s because it’s the honorable thing to do.

Renraku. Based; Global. Watchword; Methodical. Major Interests; Computers, Robotics, Basic Services, Agriculture and Aquaculture, Banking, Biotech, Business Services, Basic Research and Data. Renraku has a reputation for reliability: it’s never out front, it’s never too far behind, and it provides a solid, dependable, base of support, parts, and services for everyone else. Remember: if you work for Renraku, they’ll take care of you.

Shiawase. Based; Japan. Watchword; Fractured. Major Interests; Biotech, Biochemicals, Heavy Industry, Recycling and Service Systems, Agriculture, Military Tech, Atomics, and Neurotech. NOT magic. Shiawase is a hydra-styled corporation, run by multiple hostile heads and made up of hundreds of subdivisions, all with their own policies – but mutually supportive. Oddly enough, it has a bit of a “green” slant to a lot of it’s policies.

Yamatetsu. Based; Global (Japan-Korea-India-Russia). Watchword; Enhancement. Major Interests; Augmentation, Agriculture, Biotechnoogy, Computers, Cybernetics, Shipping, and General Services. Yamatetsu has a reputation as a rebellious, slightly idealistic, and somewhat impractical corporation, with both metahumans and a free spirit on the board. This gets them cooperation in some places where most corps can’t get the time of day.

The next set of corporations may have some pretty wide-spread interests, but they’re not in the top tier – yet. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t attempting to claw their way there. There are many more corporations in this group than this, but a lot of them have no major outposts in Seattle. These do.

Cross Applied Technologies. Based; Republic of Quebec. Watchword; Opportunistic. Major Interests; Electronic Hardware, Biomedical, Entertainment, Computers, Espionage. CAT has a reputation for getting advance notice of developments, cranking something out that exploits the holes in the early releases, and having it be hot as hell until it goes totally obsolete in a month.

Ironworks. Based; France. Watchword; Expertise. Major Interests; Neural-Net Expert Systems, Robotics, Atomics, Military Hardware, Toys, Indexing and Search Programs. Ironworks has a solid reputation for durability, including options to upgrade rather than replace equipment and heavy-duty backup and damage-tolerant systems.

Wuxing. Based; China. Watchword; Influence. Major Interests; Shipping, Exotic Biochemicals, Paranormal Animals, Magic, Metals, Gemstones, Service, Finance, Tongs and Secret Socieites. Wuxing takes the old-fashioned Chinese view of things; influence, favors, debts, obligations, and graft – along with some poison and a knife in the back – are more important than mere money.

These corporations are powerful players in western North America, but have limited holdings on the world scale.

Caliban Industries: Primarily an employment agency for Orcs and Trolls (and secondarily dwarves). It makes small loans, brokers jobs, and is attempting to counter popular prejudice against Orcs and Trolls.

Here are some minor corporations who’s major claim to “fame” is having found a niche and having managed to hang onto it.

Battletech Tournaments exists to host games. Very complex and expensive games, but games. Low-level competitions are fought in virtual-reality, higher levels of the Tournaments are fought with live drones and simulated weapons, and the very highest end fights are fought in remote locations with live ammunition. They sometimes get to test some very high-end designs.

Cyberdyne: Named by an old-movie buff, Cyberdyne specializes in custom drones and remotes, since they find it difficult to compete with the larger corporations for high-volume orders.

Happy Memories does catering, parties, greeting-cards, jingles, candygrams, and a wide variety of similar services.

Historical Truth Ltd: HTL produces customized histories, ranging from phony ancestral trees and paintings on up through edited textbooks, nicely faked cultural artifacts, simsense histories, and similar documentation. Want “proof” you’re the rightful heir to a throne? Historical Truths will find it for you, even if it means looking VERY HARD in their forger’s shop.

Iron Mesa Research and Analysis will take your chemical sample, hot new technology, or similar item, take it to bits, and present you with a detailed analysis – fast, clean, and guaranteed both secure and tolerably accurate. They may even be able to duplicate it for you.

Mindgames focuses on educational toys for children, designed to test and exercise the mind, as well as to reveal any latent magical talents a child may possess. While there is little evidence of such things having any effect whatsoever, a vigorous advertising campaign has sufficed to keep Mindgames afloat.

Raven Couriers focuses on transporting high-security physical items. While they operate worldwide, they aren’t a particularly large organization.

Whizzo Candies: Whizzo produces speciality candies, drinks, and flavorings for metahuman and nonhuman palates. Taking the wrong box can taste pretty weird but will probably be perfectly edible: mammals are a lot alike, Whizzo simply caters to the minor variations in flavor perception – which keeps them in a fairly limited, if stable, niche.

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